The present invention relates to the home health care field, and more particularly to an inflatable mattress support system for positioning a mattress at a predetermined degree of inclination.
With the esclation of hospital costs more emphasis is being placed upon home health care in order to reduce the overall expense to the patient and the insurance company for any instance of illness and/or hospitalization. In this regard, there are a number of disorders which can be treated readily at home, wherein the patient's discomfort is relieved or alleviated by having the patient supported in an inclined position, primarily during the sleeping hours. One of these is a common disorder referred to as a hiatal hernia. The esophagus enters the abdomen through an opening in the diaphragm which divides the abdomen from the thorax or chest cavity, and is connected to the upper part of the stomach. Normally, the diaphragm encircles the esophagus tightly thus maintaining the stomach entirely within the abdomen. In the case of a hiatal hernia, the opening in the diaphragm is somewhat enlarged so that the upper portion of the stomach projects into the thorax cavity. When this condition occurs, the gastric juice produced by the stomach tends to be loculated in the portion of the stomach above the diaphragm, and in the lower esophagus. When the patient is disposed in an inclined position, these gastric juices can move upwardly along the esophagus causing considerable discomfort, as well as ulceration and bleeding of the lower regions of the esophagus, a condition termed "esophagitis". One of the methods of alleviating the discomfort created by a hiatal hernia, is to have the patient sleep in an inclined position, that is a position with the patient's head about eight inches above his feet. The inclination of the patient during sleeping prevents the gastric juice from migrating into the lower region of the esophagus and is extremely effective in alleviating the discomfort occasioned due to a hiatal hernia.
While there are available on the market hospital-type beds for home use, these beds are expensive and are somewhat unsightly and do not fit into the normal bedroom decor or decorating scheme. Accordingly, the present invention provides a system whereby a hiatal hernia patient may selectively inflate a mattress support member to incline the mattress at a desired degree of inclination for sleeping, and thereafter deflate the mattress support member so that the mattress can assume a normal position at the time that the bed is to be made or otherwise covered with a bedspread or the like. The system is relatively inexpensive when compared with hospital-type beds and yet provides a desired degree of inclination in a convenient manner.